The Regular Meeting of Council for Tuesday, April 22nd saw a presentation by Greg Cano, project manager of TransCanada Coastal GasLink Pipeline Project. He told Council that the pipeline they are proposing will be able to move up to 5 billion cubic feet per day. It will run from Dawson Creek to the LNG Canada facility in Kitimat.

“We’ve been going for the last two years through community groups, hearings, meetings, and we’ve gone through about 55 local government meetings, 35 community information sessions, open houses, community meetings with First Nations, we’ve met with all the land owners along our route, we’ve met with business groups along our route, community groups, we’ve taken public opinion surveys to see, what are the key points the people are considering in British Columbia along the route of our pipeline,” said Cano.

He said the top three things people want are jobs, long term benefits, construction of a pipeline that is safe for people and safe for the environment. The other thing is to manage the pressure on infrastructures and services from all the projects which are going on.

In January, they filed their Environmental Assessment Office Application. The review process is being carried out by the EAO and their working groups. There were four EAO open houses in Kitimat. They will always provide answers to information requests.

“If anyone has a concern, if anyone has an issue they want to bring forward to the EAO, they make that application, they fill out the form and send it in to the EAO,” said Ceno.

He expects an environmental certificate will be late sometime this year. Then they will go through the process with the Oil and Gas Commission. They made their first submission to them at the beginning of April. He said they are willing to help people go through the application if they need help.

The assessment takes into account the environment, planed use for the area and the effects on Community and infrastructure as well as land and resources. They looked at the economic benefits of the project.

They expect their total construction spending will exceed $4 billion and there will be $170 million in tax payments, $20 million in property taxes per year of operation and 37 thousand person years of employment during construction and this does not include indirect jobs generated by employment.

From here, they are going to continue with their work over the summer. They have more studies which need to be done along the route. They need to get their primary contractor. They are proceeding with land acquisitions and pre construction discussions with local authorities.